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I have a Raspberry-Pi zero w and I want to connect it to the internet using a python script. I know the network ESSID and Password. Is there any python library that can do this? Is there any way I can do it via command line? If there is, I can use the subprocess library to execute that command. I have used the following command but it doesnt seem to work:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid NETWORKID key s:PASSWORD

It seems to run successfully without any errors but it doesn't connect the raspberry-pi to the internet.

I know I can use nmcli, but for some reason, I am avoiding it. Is there any other way I can connect to the internet using a python script/commandline?

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  • You probably COULD - but WHY? See How to set up networking/WiFi NOTE Raspbian DOES NOT use nmcli and other obsolete methods are incompatible with dhcpcd
    – Milliways
    Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 0:13
  • I need to run a python program which reads ESSID and password from a file, checks whether the the connected wifi is the same as that read from the file, and reconnects if its not. The link you gave above is for network configuration.
    – Umar Dastgir
    Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 0:19
  • Your comment does not explain what you want to do - also Paste additional detail into your question. You can put as many networks as you like into wpasupplicant and set priorities.
    – Milliways
    Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 0:24

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On a Raspberry Pi we use wpa_supplicant for wifi. It has a command line interface called wpa_cli. With it you can do almost all with wpa_supplicant including get/set network and set identity and password. I would start wpa_supplicant on boot up as usual because wpa_cli wants to connect to a running daemon. Then you should be able to compare and reconnect the network with wpa_cli also by script.

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  • dhcpcd starts wpa_supplicant through its 10-wpa_supplicant hook
    – Milliways
    Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 1:00
  • @Milliways Yes, but it is completely isolated running outside the init system. systemctl status wpa_supplicant.service shows a dead and disabled service. Very confusing.
    – Ingo
    Commented Sep 16, 2018 at 13:27

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